What has been your lowest bill at the end of a cruise?

[Jo and Rob]

We can't wait for our first P&O cruise in a fortnight, but would like to keep costs down as we are away again in the Summer.

 

I am really impressed with the fact that P&O provide shuttle buses for free, we will certainly be making the most of this service!

 

So what has been your lowest bill at the end of a cruise?

 

I would also welcome any tips you have at making the most of the P&O experience on a tight budget.

 

thanks

[Thejuggler]

If you avoid buying alcohol on board, drink free tea, coffee and water, only use the main restaurants and don't go on any trips it is possible to leave with a zero balance.

 

A colleague of mine doesn't drink alcohol and her only on board spend are the trips - she did a transatlantic and spent less than £100 in a fortnight.

[BrianI]

My last P&O cruise bill was £1.71 after 12 days although we did have over £400 in on board credit.

Brian

[jeanlyon]

My last bill was £92 and we had £200 OBC, so £292 in all. Two drinks each before dinner plus half litre of wine with dinner. All our trips were DIY and that was a 17 day cruise.

[SeaSickGill]

Crikey you guys - I thought my £700 for 14 nights was being thrifty! This was for three of us, my highest was £600 on RCI for 7 nights:eek:

[wilson2579]

My Thomson cruise three years ago final bill was approx £170 (can't remember exactly) We had a bottle of wine every evening and a couple of drinks each, sometimes more. Very pleasantly surprised when the bill arrived. All trips were DIY and it was a 7 day cruise.

[C at Sea]

We love art and I have to say our bill has gone down quite a lot since they stopped the Art Auctions!

We tend to spend our obc on trips. We dont have huge amount of drinks - just glass wine with meal and couple of drinks after dinner. I have trained myself to avoid the Guess handbag sale! We have more trips with P&O when we do a Caribbean cruise than the others so spend more. Including our obc(£200) this March, we spent £602 for 14days.This included trips all onboard spend and some currency we bought onboard too(we had $30 leftover)

[Catherine Janaway]

I'm new to this but don't imagine spending lots of money but also will buy what I want.

 

We have £120 pp OBC which we'll mainly use for drinks so only really need money for trips and any purchases which is something I'll have control over.

 

We also want to pay to eat at some of the restuarants where you have to pay an additional fee.

 

Obviously the tips will also have to be taken into account.

 

I can't imagine we'll have a huge bill at the end of the 2 weeks but if we do who cares! :D

[jenny wren]

Ours was $1.02 with RCI and ...yes they did charge 65 pence to our credit card !!! (we had OBC of £350!) It must have cost them more in paperwork than they actually received...:confused:

[blitznbobs]

Ours was £19.95... and we didn't scrimp at all. (Weren't watching the pennies at all) I had spa treatments and hubby had corkage every night and we had ice creams and drinks on deck etc... we had 400 on board credit tho. and we don't do excursions - we spent about 50 quid on 'do it yourself versions of these with taxis and entrance fees etc.

 

BnB

[Gerrym]

I managed to get mine under £1k a few years ago on a 14 nighter.

 

I normally budget on £100 per day.

 

 

I don't see how it can be done for less than £50 per day, unless you don't drink or take excursions.

 

 

 

Gerry

[SeaSickGill]

I managed to get mine under £1k a few years ago on a 14 nighter.

 

I normally budget on £100 per day.

 

 

I don't see how it can be done for less than £50 per day, unless you don't drink or take excursions.

 

 

 

Gerry

 

That's more like it Gerry, I'm reckoning on £50 a day just for me, when I go away with my mum in a couple of weeks:)

[Jo and Rob]

If you avoid buying alcohol on board, drink free tea, coffee and water, only use the main restaurants and don't go on any trips it is possible to leave with a zero balance.

 

A colleague of mine doesn't drink alcohol and her only on board spend are the trips - she did a transatlantic and spent less than £100 in a fortnight.

 

We did exactly that on the Independence of the Seas (Royal Caribbean). It was a three night trip to Le Havre and Rob was working so it was just the three of us. I had to pay adult price for Oliver (only 8 years old) so I was determined to keep the onboard account as low as possible.

 

We brought on some soft drinks for the fridge and enjoyed those in our cabin. Throughout the day, I made the most of the free coffee and fresh lemonade, Emily loved the lemonade too, and Oliver drank the tea, milk or water. We all made the most of the self serve ice cream, enjoyed breakfast drinks and pastries on the balcony, ice skating, rock climbing and had a great time at the kids' club. We explored Le Havre independently on the first port day and treated the second at Le Havre like a sea day to get the most out of the ship.

Balance of account at the end of the holiday? £0!! (with no OBC!)

 

Our next cruise with P&O has £130 OBC. Happy Days!!

[William Dean]

Balance of account at the end of the holiday? £0!! (with no OBC!)

 

 

What a confession. :eek:

 

WD

[suebubbles]

-£500 yes minus as the bill at the end of 2 week cruise on azura to the caribbean in feb was £700 but i won £1,213 on the bingo on the last evening so lovely to settle the bill and take £500 home with us :d:d

[jeanlyon]

We don't skimp at all, but I find the stuff in the shops uninteresting and we nearly always do our own trips if we can, as there is nothing worse than waiting for the other 40 people to get moving! so much more fun exploring on your own. We did do the Pyramids on a P&O tour, but sometimes I try to do a local tour if I can find one.

[ROSEBASKETS]

I can't see the point in watching the pennies when you spend many hundreds or even a few thousand pounds on a cruise. Maybe it's just me, but if you can afford to pay the cost of the cruise then surely you must be in a position to pay for "normal" things like drinks and ice creams without worrying what you spend? If not perhaps a more suitable "budget" holiday would better suit.

 

I also wonder if those who are quoting their spend are quoting their cruise card spending rather than their overall spend as tips alone would come to over £100 on a fortnights cruise at the recommended rates wouldn't they?

[wilson2579]

I have to disagree with people who have paid lots of money on a cruise should be able to afford the spending on board. Hubby and I always try and book 5 star hotels when on a land holiday but to be able to do this we need to cut back on our spending as we can't afford both. We like to get away 3 times a year and this is our way of doing so.

[ROSEBASKETS]

I have to disagree with people who have paid lots of money on a cruise should be able to afford the spending on board. Hubby and I always try and book 5 star hotels when on a land holiday but to be able to do this we need to cut back on our spending as we can't afford both. We like to get away 3 times a year and this is our way of doing so.

 

Isn't that like making a special trip to Harrods and only buying a carrier bag? or going to Paris and eating at McDonalds? :eek:

[southwinds]

Look out for cocktail of the day.. coffee of the day etc etc .. wine packages are popular.. and soft drink packages are as well.. I often have the virgin cocktail of the day ( not alchole) which during the day is better value than any other large soft drink...

Or if you are really watching the pennies you can have your own drink in your cabin...

You could manage to not spend anything on a cruise... as there is free tea and coffee..

[wilson2579]

Isn't that like making a special trip to Harrods and only buying a carrier bag? or going to Paris and eating at McDonalds? :eek:

Not at all. I would rather be on the ship or on holiday than not at all. We don't scrimp but we don't spend lots of money either. I never feel that hubby and I miss out on anything as we like to walk and enjoy the simple life and do indulge in a bottle of wine and a few drinks every day.

If we were only having one holiday a year I may think differently. Everyone has a different opinion on how much is a lot to spend.

[Jo and Rob]

Not at all. I would rather be on the ship or on holiday than not at all. We don't scrimp but we don't spend lots of money either. I never feel that hubby and I miss out on anything as we like to walk and enjoy the simple life and do indulge in a bottle of wine and a few drinks every day.

If we were only having one holiday a year I may think differently. Everyone has a different opinion on how much is a lot to spend.

 

I'm with you on this one. So much is complementary so why not enjoy it? When we on a budget, we have the complementary coffee rather than speciality coffee, enjoy the fabulous food in the main dining room rather than booking the speciality restaurants, enjoy the free activities during the day rather than the fee paying ones, free ice-cream rather than the paid ice-cream, how is this not enjoying our holiday? We do tend to drink water with our evening meal which I think is where we probably save the money. However if we fancy one we will have one! (We have only managed the zero once on RCI and I was on a mission!!)

 

We normally spend money on internet connection, the odd drink and an excursion if the distance is a concern. On Princess it was a celebration cruise and then we did a speciality restaurant and chef's table (which I highly recommend) as well as drinks cards.

 

With Princess and Costa the bill is never zero as the tips go on the account, RCI has tips in envelopes ;)

[timetravellers]

Our lowest bill was £53 (no obc) on a 5 night cruise on Adventure of the Seas. We had a couple of buy one get one free vouchers for wine with our dinner (Crown & Anchor booklet). However, the drinks were so very expensive, that it put us off drinking.

We went to the Captains welcome meetings on 2 or 3 evenings and took full advantage of the free drinks there.

We are not huge drinkers but the prices they were charging were really silly!

[SeaSickGill]

With Princess and Costa the bill is never zero as the tips go on the account, RCI has tips in envelopes ;)

 

So what are you saying - you don't tip? If so, that's just mean:(

[frodo1]

Our bill on the Aurora was larger than the cost of the cruise! However, it was our first P&O Cruise, we bought wine packages and did cruise excursions everytime it docked!

 

Had a great time though!